Blood Nightmare
by Branir
Summary: Part II to Ravine of Time, It's not finished and I really don't think it will be
1. Default Chapter

The abomination that was once (1) Clyde clawed its way through a horde of serpents, not showing even a sliver of mercy. His powerful talons cleaved through the rough skin of the snakes as though it was only cloth. Just minutes after the chaos had begun it was over. Over three dozen serpent corpses lay mutilated in the dust. Now covered in blood, of which not one drop was his own, Clyde stretched out his arms to his sides and roared up at the night sky in triumph. The creature suddenly went still, then let out a shriek and fell to the ground clutching its head in agony. Clyde fought from the small corner of the beast's brain that he owned, but could not seem to regain control of his own body. Whatever magic had done this to him was far to powerful for him to deal with. He could only hope that he would stumble across the others and receive their aid.   
  
The thoughts of the body's former owner seemed to vanish and the beast stood and began to feed on the remains of the serpents. After he had devoured all that was to be devoured it began to smell around itself. It caught a strange odor that made him rather curious. It hissed in the direction it was coming from, a path that it did not remember taking yet. Perhaps it was more challenging 'game'? With another hiss it began bounding down the path, it could almost taste the new flesh that awaited him.  
  
  
Zel walked ahead of Deis, he didn't feel like talking. He still hadn't accomplished what he had come to do. He was beginning to wonder if he ever would. Now he had two things to worry about, first he needed to get Amelia back to normal, then he needed to get back to normal. "Normal . . ." he muttered aloud absentmindedly. He didn't know what normal was anymore. But if he didn't know what it was then why did he want to be cured so badly. Was it for himself? It had been for himself, but a lot had changed since those days. Was it for Amelia?  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by Deis tapping him on the head with her scepter. "Slow down Zelgadis, you've seemed to forget that we don't want to alert Diont of our presence." she said. Zel slowed down a little until Deis was right beside him. She glanced at him from under her hood,"Where did you get that ring that you gave your girl friend?" she enquired.   
  
He peered at her through the corner of his eyes then looked ahead again. If he didn't answer her she would just ask again. If there was one thing he had learned about women, it was that they wouldn't take silence for an answer. "I found it." he said. They had been walking now for what seemed like hours and Zel was getting tired. He really hoped that this would all be over soon so he could get away from this place.   
  
"Hmmm . . . so she is your girl friend." Deis declared thoughtfully. Zel's eyes widened at this statement."I've seen it somewhere before." she said focusing more on the ring than on the girl. She recalled seeing it as Zel had slipped it on the girls finger.  
  
Zel gulped and looked at her, "You're not getting any weird ideas about us, I hope?" he half asked half demanded. He really hoped not because this woman frightened the HELL out of him.  
  
Deis stopped slithering along side him and began to laugh hysterically. When she had caught her breath, she looked up to see Zelgadis who was staring at her in horror. " No no no! I fear you misunderstand me my boy. I may not look it but I'm a thousand times your age! Besides, I'm not interested in mortals at all, they're far too weird for my taste." she said simply. Zel saw that she was about to continue but began to look behind him. (2)" Clyde?"  
  
  
(1) The whelp that was inside of the Obelisk that Clyde recognized as a dragon, was actually very different aside from looks. They are called Gorun Obelisks. These beasts constantly feed on living things and never get full, their digestive system works at an alarming rate yet at the same time they do not require food but once a month. The more that one eats the more powerful it becomes, this species is unable to leave the Ravine of Time, but is forced to stay within the rock walls on its endless search for food. Their name comes from the fact that when they take on a foe that is too powerful for them to control, they have the ability to turn their enemy into an Obelisk.  
One thing you maybe asking is why did the Gorun freeze one of their whelps? This is a method of preserving the species(or mutating another in the case of Clyde) the obelisk is used as a type of cocoon that waits for a host to come along. If the host resists, the Gorun only mutates the body and has a basic control over it. However, if the host does not have a strong enough will, its body will become that of a Gorun Obelisk and the host will have no control.   
  
(2) In a case of a mutated Gorun, the host mind will occasionally awaken and cause trouble for the Gorun that has control of its body. But when the host is sleeping, it does not dream its own dreams but enters those of someone else that is sleeping. 


	2. Trapped, Danger

"Clyde?" said Deis, noticing the assassin approach from the direction they were heading. "How did you get here?" Zelgadis turned and eyed the man with caution.   
  
"Well, that depends . . . where is here?" he asked stopping in front of Zelgadis and frowning at what he saw.  
  
"Doesn't be so rude Clyde, this is Zel, he's the seventh." she said jabbing at him with her scepter, but missing on purpose. "As for where we are, we're in Diont's dream."  
  
Clyde pulled down the cloth that was covering his face and raised an eyebrow,"Diont's dream?" the questioned, he was really confused now.  
  
"Zel and I are here to find out how he's going to go about escaping when he wakes up." she answered, glancing down the path. Clyde's response was silence, this gave Zel the impression that he didn't talk much at all. "By the way . . ." said Deis looking back to Clyde,"Where have you been, why weren't you at the meeting place?"  
  
Clyde leaned up against the rock wall and looked at the other two. He didn't quite know how to explain what had happened. "I got lost." he said calmly.   
  
Deis slithered over to his side and looked at him,"But, how is it that you're here? Tell me about everything that happened. Did you run into serpents? Did you see Diont . . ." she began listing several things that could have happened but was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. "What can't you see . . . Gaspard?" she said turning around to see the Guru of Time.   
  
"Just thought I should drop in to say 'hi'" he said in a non-joking tone. He looked to Clyde with a frown and towered over him, "Okay Clyde, what kind of mess have you gotten into this time." he ordered in a voice that resembled a parent scolding a child. "What was in the Obelisk?!"  
  
Clyde folded his arms across his chest and looked up at the old man, uncaring, and as usual unafraid. "Dragon." he muttered. The old man stepped back and began pondering the situation. Since the beginning of the little interrogation, Zel had seated himself on the ground and was drawing symbols in the sand, the same ones that he remembered being on the ring. No one was paying any attention to him though. Deis was busy watching Gaspard who had begun to pace back and forth. As for Clyde, he was still wallowing in self-pity over the loss of his knife.  
  
After a few moments Gaspard stopped and looked a Clyde sadly,"I'm sorry my boy, but it would appear that you're a victim of a Gorun Obelisk." he looked to Deis who seemed to understand what he was talking about.   
  
"If that's so then that means there's a deformed Gorun running around devouring all that it can! The others are in danger!" she exclaimed looking to Clyde,"I'm so sorry Clyde." she said shaking her head, "I'm so sorry." Clyde just shrugged and sat down in the sand.  
  
"I apologize for leaving you all like this, but I must warn the others." said Gaspard bowing to them all. He tapped the ground with the intent of disappearing, but he didn't. The expression on his face was a dark one. "I take that back I can't leave."  
  
"Why not." said Zel, getting to his feet.  
  
"Because Mr. Greywerds, our friend Diont knows we're here."  
  
  
Tae Grif stood by Vorimoth, they were both watching the path that led deeper into the ravine. Janus, who was sitting by the sleeping bodies of Zel and Deis, leaned against the rock wall and tried to throw small stones into the well. After a few moments of that fun activity, Janus laid his hand on his scythe and closed his fingers around it. He stood and walked over to the well where the sleeping Gaspard stood, snoring loudly. What sort of person slept standing up anyway? Only one answer occurred to him, old men that involuntarily fall through time gates and end up at the end of time, that's who. He nodded snickering to himself. He had known the old man for longer than he could remember, in fact his first experience with traveling through time was taken around the same time Gaspard took his. Of course his falling into a time hole had been an accident of sorts caused by the evil being lavos, but his mother hadn't been all too eager to rescue her 'baby' either.  
  
Scythe still in hand he approached Vorimoth and Tae, neither of them seemed to pay much attention to him. Janus began down the path a bit until he was out of the moonlight. Didn't seem to matter what time of day it was to him, it was always brighter than it should be. After a few minutes of dark solitude, he went back and stood in front of the well. He turned when he heard Tae growl. He disappeared then reappeared between his fellow warriors, both of which seemed to feel the presence of danger,"What's wrong," he muttered.  
  
"There was a sound, it came from this path." answered Vorimoth, with his sword in hand.  
  
"Get ready Magus, this creature isn't a pushover, I smell blood." growled Tae. Janus nodded and began to utter a spell.  
He finished quickly and shot a fireball off in to the darkness ahead of them. His spell hit its target and there was a howl of pain followed by the sound of some animal charging. The three of them leapt out of the creature's path but Tae want quick enough and was caught under the beast's trample. Tae yowled but stood none-the-less, he wasn't hurt too badly, just a little shaken up. It was now that the three got a look at their opponent.  
  
Janus cursed under his breath as he looked upon the creature,"Well shit, it's a Gorun. 


End file.
